Blending In
by SpiriterGirl
Summary: Perfecting and enforcing the new laws concerning preternaturals, which allows them to live among humans freely for the first time in history, brings together two of the most unlikely people. Co-written with ToTheJourney2014
1. Chapter 1

Being virtually on her own since she was seven years old Kali isn't shaken by much, but as she sat in her favorite diner pouring over this new law that surfaced it tipped her world upside down. The now twenty-year-old liaison didn't know what she'd gotten into yet again.

Sure, she'd been in tight situations with non-humanoid creatures, but this seemed over the top. Blending Worlds, Law 515 was something most '_normals'_, non-preternatural's weren't prepared for. She wasn't even prepared for it and she knew that they were real.

"Ms. Angelus, more coffee?" her normal waitress asked as Kali nodded. The waitress looked at Kali's tablet while she poured her coffee and almost spilled it on the table, but Kali moved the cup with her quick reflexes.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Angelus. It's been a rough night and that document explains a lot," she stated blandly while Kali took a drink of the pure black coffee. Kali put her cup down and motioned for the girl to sit down noting the name on the nametag on her chest pocket, since she was horrible at remembering names lately.

"Karen, tell me about your night. I've got a few minutes. Anything out of the ordinary happen?" Kali asked flipping to the notes application on her tablet. Karen sat down sighing and running a hand through her perfectly cut blonde hair. Kali noted the dullness of her normally bright green eyes and the bright blue ascot she'd tied around her neck that clashed with the pink uniform.

_That could be hiding a bite wound. I hope she treated it properly. She probably doesn't even know what to do with a bite wound Kalista. _She reprimanded herself as Karen sighed and looked into her eyes. if Karen wouldn't talk to Kali something was definitely wrong.

"It started out just like any other late night shift. The truckers came off the highway at about ten o'clock, but at elven two groups of teenagers walked in. One group sat in the far corner while the other sat by the door keeping their distance from the first group.

"I didn't pay any attention at first, but after I took their orders I realized how different the two groups were. The first group seemed hesitant and scared of the second group. The second group seemed to glare at the first group every so often like the Jocks look at the Nerds that talk with the cheerleaders.

"The first group were well-dressed yuppies from the better part of town and the second group were gothic punks or so I thought at first. They were nice to me and even tipped me a lot, but the yuppies didn't like me. They seemed offended at my very presence.

"The yuppies were talking about the new law and that the second group might be preternatural as if it were some kind of joke. One of the Goth girls walked passed their table as they were mentioning it and she turned to them mid-step. It was creepy I'll admit, but that was only the beginning.

"The girl dropped her hood right as I was walking up with their tray of food. She took the tray from me and passed out their food as if she'd taken the order herself. She'd did it with an unnatural speed that I'd never seen before.

"She turned to the group as a whole and they stared at her. '_I wouldn't be too skeptical about preternaturals if I were you. We may have stayed in the dark all these years, but we don't have to anymore. All the creepy, crawly scum of the preternatural world are coming out to play and I'd be careful… if I were you,' _she informed them as the head of the group scoffed at her.

"She turned to him and hissed showing her fangs. The jock almost pissed himself. She turned away from them and walked back to her seat as if nothing had happened. I was stunned speechless.

"Vampyres out in the same place as humans and eating regular food is unheard of. I went back into the kitchen after that and peered out at the second group. One of them looked up at me and waved with a bright smile on his face.

"The rest of the night went smoothly and neither group talked to each other. At about midnight I went out to smoke and someone attacked me. I don't know who or what it was because I didn't get a good look at it, but I hurt it more than it hurt me," she ended hands shaking as they brushed darkened bruises on her forearms. Kali noted them and nodded typing all of it down carefully.

"Did your attacker bite you? Is it all right if I take a few pictures to document this?" Kali asked compassionately as Karen nodded. She removed her ascot exposing a deep set of teeth prints on her neck. Whoever it was had sucked blood to the surface of her skin leaving a nasty hickey, but hey hadn't punctured the skin, which ruled out Vampyres.

Kali took pictures of the bruises and the bite before sending everything to one of her coworkers who dealt with this type of attack, Sean Dennis. Kali smiled at the shaken girl and covered her hand with her own as she turned her tablet off.

"Thank you for talking with me and giving the report. Can I get your phone number and full name so that an officer can follow up when you get off work?" Kali further inquired while taking out her phone. Karen nodded and wrote her information on her order pad before tearing off the top sheet and handing it to Kali.

"Thank you for listening. I know you're busy, you keep pretty tight schedule most days. Being the liaison between two government branches is difficult especially at your age," she commented as she slid out of the booth. Kali put the paper in her jacket pocket before she put her tablet in her messenger bag and her phone rang. She hit the button on the Bluetooth in her ear and put a few dollars' tip under her empty coffee cup.

"Agent Angelus here, you got anything new Dennis?" she asked knowing exactly who it was. He laughed at the greeting and then sighed typing away furiously at his keyboard.

"That depends on how you look at it. Her attack is similar to several others, but no one ever hit back at the thing. Did she get a look at her attacker?" he asked still typing. Kali stood up and walked toward the register as a thousand things went through her mind about the scene.

"No, she put a good beating on him, but I have a feeling she ran back inside before she got a good look at who was attacking her. I'm going to check outside. I'll send you plenty of pictures and I'll try to garb any evidence that hasn't been tampered with.

"I won't be able to bring it by until later. I'm hitting the gym after this and then I'm off to deal with the Director. You should wish me luck. He's fuming about Law 515. He said something about Mayor Renning being out of his mind.

"I wish I could talk to the guy before I confront Mr. Sunshine," she sarcastically commented after paying for her meal. She walked outside while only the sound of key taps wafted over the phone. When the sound stopped she waited for his reply and Dennis gave a low whistle.

"He sounds like a loon by all accounts Kal. He doesn't have the squeaky clean reputation that his competition had, but the polls seem a little rigged if you ask me," he commented as Kali rolled her eyes. Kali knew that voting was rigged. It had always been rigged. No one she knew was dumb enough to think it was because of actual voting that officials were elected especially here in California. She shook her head taking her iPad back out and snapping a few pictures of the area out back of the kitchen.

She took out a plastic bag and dropped a clump of red hair into it. She took a shot of the rumbled grass and the blood stains before she took a sample of the blood and sighed.

"Sean, come one. Not everyone is what people say. A lot of information about politicians is from reporters being vicious and giving the public what it wants. Jeremy Renning can't be _that_ bad," she countered his arguments as she slid everything into her bag.

"Jeremy Renning isn't known for talking to feds Kal. I'd give it up. I don't see him talking to you before he's voted out of office. If that ever happens, though he does seem to be turning his life around or at least he's trying to," he rebutted quickly as she mounted her motorcycle. She shook her head and braided her long dark hair before sliding her helmet over her head.

"I gotta go Sean. The email should be to you soon for you to analyze. It's a big file so it should last you until I can get back to the office. Be good," she commented before hitting the button to disconnect the call. She took a deep breath before speeding off toward the gym glad for the little bit of silence.


	2. Chapter 2

Jeremy Renning leaned back on the rolling chair he was sitting on behind is large oak desk inside of his office in downtown Los Angeles, California. He was supposed to be on a personal vacation from his position as a representative in the United States Senate. However, he knew there was still too much work to do on Law 515, which had been dubbed 'Blending Worlds' by the national media. There were too many things in it that left loopholes for people, and for preternaturals, to take advantage of. He wanted to make sure that everything about it was perfect, that there was no room for debate. The first stage of it had already passed, but there was still a long way to go before everything was completely settled.

There had been a lot of debate in the national media concerning Jeremy's own existence. Several reporters, and he was sure several people as well, were convinced that he was a preternatural himself since he was the one who had written the law in the first place. There was always someone following him and trying to uncover the preternatural secret that they assumed he had to be hiding.

But the truth was that Jeremy was human. At twenty-four years old, he was one of the youngest senators in history, but he was human. There was nothing preternatural at all.

Jeremy sighed and ran one hand through his golden brown hair as his blue-green eyes settled on the picture that rested in a silver frame on top of his desk. He reached over and picked up the frame, his fingertips lightly caressing the face of the woman in the picture.

The woman appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties. She had bright red hair that was blowing in the wind away from her face with the appearance of being flames. Her eyes were a deep violet color that most had assumed she had gotten with the help of contact lenses. He had assumed the same until she had trusted him with the truth one night.

_The woman had been a preternatural. Her father had been an angel and had chosen to 'fall from grace' with Lucifer and the others. Her mother had been a demon that her father had fallen in love with shortly after the Fall. Her natural appearance had been beautiful to him. She had skin the color of pure gold and wings and horns that were black as coal. Her natural hair had matched her horns and wings, and her natural eyes were as gold as her skin._

_Other members of the preternatural world hadn't been happy that she had told Jeremy the truth. They had cornered the two of them in a dark alley as they had been coming back to his dorm room from a movie theater. Jeremy had done everything he could, but as a human, there hadn't been a thing he could do. He had been at their mercy even more that the woman had been._

_The woman had protected Jeremy at the risk of her own life. She had shielded him from the preternatural world and used her powers to send him to a new city, erasing the memory of him from the ones attacking her even as they had killed her._

_When Jeremy had woken up, he had found himself in a strange dorm room. It had taken him that whole weekend to find out where he was, and that she had used her powers to take care of everything. He had been transferred to a new university, and his new classes were to begin the following Monday morning._

_That was the weekend Jeremy had begun to write the law that would become known as Law 515 two years later when he joined the Senate._

Jeremy snapped himself out of his memories and sighed, putting the picture frame back down on top of his desk. He glanced out the windows and realized that the sun was setting. He hadn't had dinner, but he wanted to get a work out in before he even thought about getting anything to eat. He pushed himself up on the chair and stood up, tucking his laptop into the bottom right-hand drawer of the desk. He locked the drawer and slipped the key into its hiding spot before leaving the office. He didn't bother to change out of his clothes, knowing he had a clean set of workout clothes waiting for him in the locker room at the gym.

Jeremy's cell phone rang as he was sliding behind the wheel of his convertible. He sighed, sliding the key into the ignition before he answered the call. "Hello?"

"Jeremy!" Todd Stelton's voice carried through the ear piece of the cell phone. "Where are you?"

Jeremy cleared his throat to hide his groan. Todd was a fellow senator, only he was from New York. "I'm at home in LA for a while," he responded. "I needed to take a vacation before things really get insane."

"I don't blame you," Todd replied. "I just wish you had let me know you were leaving. There are reporters all over the Senate looking for you."

Jeremy didn't bother to hide his groan this time. "If you send them out here, Todd, I swear I'll make you pay for it. I came out here to get away from all of that for a few days."

Todd laughed, but the sound didn't come across as genuine at all. "Why would you suspect me of ever doing anything like that?" he asked in a voice that was pure saccharine. "I would never send them after you to get them out of my own hair. I have laws of my own that I'm trying to get heard on the floor, you know."

"Yes, I know," Jeremy answered. "I've seen some examples of the laws you have in mind, and I can guarantee that they will never see the light of day... not as long as I hold a seat." He disconnected the call before Todd had a chance to reply, sighing as he started the car and put it into reverse to back out of his driveway. He drove across town to the gym he visited regularly, Gym Masters.

Jeremy walked into the gym a few minutes later and quickly changed out of the suit he was wearing into the set of gym clothes that was inside his locker in the locker room. He grabbed a clean towel from the stack by the door of the locker room before stepping onto the treadmill to begin his workout session.


	3. Chapter 3

Kali parked her motorcycle out front and walked into the gym with a groan. She'd had to postpone her much needed workout session, because Director Douglas of the FBI had insisted she come into the office right away. She'd gotten an earful about Senator Renning, and it made her blood boil. She needed this workout session now more than ever. She opened one of the double glass doors and turned into the locker room without even looking into the exercise area.

Kali kicked off her boots in front of her locker and began to undress as she thought about what Director Douglas had said. _'He's an unfeeling diplomat, Angelus! He's unaware of the damage this damn law will cause.'_ She shook her head as she slipped on her black leggings with the violet strip up the sides and the matching tank top. _'He has to be wrong about Renning.'_ she thought to herself. _'The way he wrote the law proves that he only wanted to make humans aware that preternatural beings actually exist. He wasn't trying to give them a reason to rise up against the humans or give them a free pass to freedom from the law.'_

Kali plugged her black headphones into her iPod and turned on her workout play list before sliding it into her violet flip belt. She slipped on her sneakers and put her clothes into the locker as she stretched her neck. She grabbed her white gym towel and placed it over her shoulder before casually walking out onto the floor. She looked at the machines and realized there was a muscular man on one of the treadmills near the wall, and it made her stop.

_'Who works out this late?'_ she asked herself. _'No one has ever been here before when I come to work out.'_ She looked up at the clock and began rolling her shoulders to loosen them. Seven o'clock at night was much later than she'd planned to exercise, but she knew that everyone was usually cleared out of the gym by six thirty. She stretched out her legs while watching him carefully. She shook her head and began to jog around the track that ran around the outer edge of the room to the beat of Usher's 'Scream' as she did every day, but she kept her eyes on the man with the golden brown hair as she continued to wonder who he was.

Jeremy was so intent on his workout that he didn't notice that anyone else had come to the gym with him. His eyes were closed as he ran on the treadmill. After he had run on the treadmill for at least an hour, he shut it down and moved over to the free weights. Picking up a pair of fifty-pound weights, he began a steady work out that quickly caused the material of his tank top to darken with sweat. He grinned to himself as he moved from one lift to another. Working out always made him feel so much better.

Kali jogged at a faster pace with each lap until she was racing around the track. When she felt as if she was almost ready to collapse, she slowed her pace and jogged over to one of the bench press machines. She took off the lightweights that were on the bar and put seventy-five pound plates on each end before securing them into place. She lay down on the bench with her feet on the floor and began to bench the one hundred and fifty pounds with ease. In the middle of her fiftieth repetition, she noticed the man move from the treadmill to the free-weights and realized that she could see his face.

There was something familiar about him, but Kali couldn't put her finger on what it was. She put the barbell she was using back into the slots on top of the bench press and sat up, studying the man's profile. She sighed and shook her head when his name still refused to come to her mind, moving to add another twenty-five pound plate to each side of the barbell. She growled under her breath as she remembered why she always chose to exercise when there was no one else around. She could easily bench two hundred and fifty pounds, but she didn't enjoy doing it whenever anyone else was watching her. People, including the other agents at the bureau, thought she was crazy for lifting as much as she did. Most of them would begin making bets on how much she could actually lift or how many repetitions she could do. It was the main reason she forced herself to work out alone.

Kali lay back down and began her second set of repetitions, leaving her earphones in her ears. She didn't bother to count how many repetitions she was doing. Her mind was far too busy thinking of who the man in the corner using the free weights might be.

Jeremy finished several different kinds of exercises with the fifty-pound free weights before putting them back up and moving over to the water cooler that was standing against the nearby wall. He filled one of the paper cups with cold water, dumping it over his head before re-filling it so that he could get a drink. As he sipped on the water, he glanced around the gym and spotted the woman on the bench press. He smiled slightly to himself as he crushed the empty paper cup once he was finished with the water, watching her work out as he dropped the cup into the trashcan that was next to the cooler. He nodded his head, waving his fingers at her as he walked past her and noticed she was watching him as well. He moved over to a ladder that was bolted to both the ceiling and the floor. Climbing part way up, he hooked his legs over one of the rungs and tucked his feet into another to support his weight as he laid back and began doing upside-down sit ups.

Kali put the barbell back into the notches on top of the bench press before she sat up to watch the man even more closely. He'd smiled and waved at her, and it made her nervous to know that he was watching her. She hoped that hadn't ever met before, because she knew that would mean her mind was really slipping. If they had met before, she should remember who he was. She stood up and wiped the sweat off her face with her towel as she walked toward the cooler.

Normally, Kali would use one cup of water to wet her hair, but that seemed too provocative now. Instead, she filled the cup halfway and drank it before moving over to one of the floor mats to do her planking repetitions. She kept her focus on the plank positions instead of the stranger despite her mind continuing to process him and failing to figure out who he was.

Jeremy stopped after two hundred sit ups and climbed off the ladder. He did a few stretches before moving over to one of the floor mats, choosing one that was a few down from the one the woman was using and immediately beginning to go through a series of pushups. He started with normal ones, but he was soon doing knuckle ones and one-armed ones. After doing two hundred total, he stopped and moved into a sitting position so that he could do a few more stretches.

Kali finished her planks and moved into the downward facing dog yoga pose before she sat down into a sitting position with her legs in a v. She bent down with her hands over her head and put her shoulders to the floor. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and she quickly sat up her eyes on the figure three mats down. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding and then looked at the guy before taking out one of her headphones. She waved at him and took a deep breath seeing if he would make the first move to talk since he had waved first.

Jeremy noticed the woman and nodded his head, stretching more as he pushed himself to his feet. He walked slowly over toward her with a purposeful, and confident, stride. Without waiting for her invitation, he dropped down beside her and rubbed his towel over his hair. "You've got a good stretch on you," he commented in a complimentary tone. "I'm Jeremy. What's your name?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Thanks. My name is Kali. You had a good work out yourself, if you don't mind me saying so." She smiled at him. "You're in good shape." She looked up to see his blue-green eyes, trying her best to keep back her natural tendency to see a person's true nature. She wanted this to be normal, even though most of her life wasn't at all normal.

Jeremy chuckled, not seeming to be phased by her compliments. He didn't appear to be full of himself or shy. He simply accepted her compliment with the ease of a man who had grown used to hearing them without appearing to allow them to go to his head. He held one hand out for her to shake. "It's a pleasure to meet you Kali."

Her eyes went wide as it dawned on her who he was. She took his hand in hers and shook it firmly as she took a deep breath. "Are you Jeremy Renning, by chance?" she asked, unable to hold back her curiosity. She didn't want to jump to conclusions and seem foolish. It was possible that Renning had a twin or something, but she knew that wasn't a likely possibility. "Don't worry," she added when she saw the tired and slightly fearful look that came into his eyes. "I'm not a reporter."

He sighed in relief. "I guess I should be thankful for that," he muttered. He rubbed the towel over his sweaty face and through his hair again. "Please don't tell me you're some kind of fan or something." He shuddered a little as he thought about his last encounter with a fan. Those had never turned out well for him. "I was having a nice time and I really don't want to ruin it, Kali."

Kali chuckled and shook her head. "I'm not a fan girl, and I'm glad you're having a good time. It must be hard getting all of that attention," she commented a joking tone to her light voice, watching the way his turquoise eyes sparkled even in the fluorescent lighting. He was human, but there was something about him that told her he'd known about the preternatural world for a long time. "You deserve a day off and privacy, too." She took her hair out of the braid that it'd been in all day and turned toward him as she shook it out letting it fall down to her hips. "Everyone does."

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders. "Unfortunately, attention and fame come with the job. I suppose the Bill I am working on isn't helping matter." He sighed and rolled his shoulders o try and work out the kinks that were already trying to knot back up. "I'm sure you've probably heard about it. It seems to be all that anyone is talking about these days." He growled a little. "My life is kept under a freaking microscope so I sneak in here every time I can while I'm in town to try and get away and forget for a while."

She nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. She'd heard it a lot from her superiors, but being the youngest liaison in history hadn't gotten her any fame. "No. That bill doesn't help with your fame, but with the right changed it will help preternaturals everywhere," she stated as she moved to her knees and gestured toward his back. "May I help you with those kinks? You don't want them to turn into knots. Those are a bitch to work out." She watched him carefully, hoping she wasn't going too far since they'd only just met.

He studied her carefully for several moments before he slowly nodded his head and turned his back toward her. He dropped the towel he'd been using on the floor beside him before glancing over his shoulder at her. "What do you know about preternaturals, Kali?" he asked in a voice that let her know that he knew she was involved somehow.

Kali began rubbing Jeremy's back and making sure the muscles were warm enough to manipulate before she started expertly working out the kinks. "I… Well, there isn't an easy way to explain it. I'm an orphan, and I've been on my own since before I can remember." She began her explanation, trying to keep things as accurate as possible despite the next part being difficult. "There are stories floating around that my parents were some sort of preternatural nasty, but there are other stories that they were hunted and eradicated by preternaturals." She listened to the way his body reacted to her touch as she talked in order to decide the best way to work the kinks back out of his muscles.

Jeremy grew thoughtful as he listened to her soothing voice, almost moaning with pleasure at the feeling of her hands working the muscles of his back and shoulders. "Have you ever tried to find out the truth?" he asked her. He turned his head slightly so that he could look at her over his shoulder. "I would be happy to put my resources to use, if it would be of any help."

Kali's hands stopped moving, and she knelt down behind Jeremy's back as she remembered the last time she had tried. "I don't have enough to go on, Jeremy. I don't even remember my last name," she admitted as she sighed, racking her brain for the answers she had always searched for. "I spent the first few years of my paycheck trying to track them down, but being a street rat didn't help anything. The only reason I'm in law enforcement is that one of the officers who picked me up saw my potential." Despite her words, she was still unsure of anything.

Kali ran one hand through her hair and looked down at the ground. "It's been almost thirteen years since they were killed. I was seven, and all I can accurately remember is that my mother hid me behind a dumpster and told me to stay there until she said it was safe," Kali relented as pieces of that night flashed through her mind. She shook her head and rapidly blinked back the few tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry. You probably don't have time to listen to my sob story." She stood up and took a deep breath as she stretched out her legs.

Jeremy stood up and stretched his arms over his head as he studied her. "My offer still stands Kali," he told her in a quiet voice. He turned to head toward the locker rooms. "I've had a fun time tonight, and I would love to see you again sometime." He glanced over his shoulder at her as he paused in the doorway. "I'm assuming you already know how to get a message to me?"


End file.
